It has been four months
since I have taken on the role as the coordinator to the Oregon Pain Management
Commission. In those four months, several members have come to the end of their
service terms, most of them having volunteered eight years or more.

Highlighted during the
most recent Oregon Pain Management Commission (OPMC) meeting was a brief
history of what the commission has accomplished in the last 12 years. The
commission is credited with several actions since they were established in
2002.

The OPMC welcomes three
(3) new members to the commission in pursuit of fulfilling its mission of
improving pain management in the State of Oregon. Member biographies

According to the Oregon
Prescription Drug Monitoring Annual Report 2012, twenty percent of Oregonians
(about 760,000 people) live with chronic pain. Amidst the national public
health crisis of opioid abuse, addiction and unintentional overdose deaths the
National Survey on Drug Use and Health from SAMSHA reports that Oregon is first
in the nation for non-medical use of prescription pain relievers in 2010-2011
with 6.4% of those aged 12 or older compared to the 4.6% nationally. While
those statistics should cause alarm and has prompted changes in prescribing
standards of opioid medications, they should not create a barrier to the
appropriate use of prescription medications in the treatment of pain.

I recently attended the
Oregon Complex Care Collaborative at which there were presentations and round
table discussions about pain management strategies and how to decrease risks
associated with opioid use in communities across the state. It was reassuring
that, as the recommendations are being made to reduce the number and dose of
opioid prescriptions, there are alternatives to pharmaceuticals beginning to
emerge as treatment options. Coordinated Care Organizations are tapping into
resources such as the Back to Health Program, Living Well Program, Mid-Valley
Pain Clinic, and provider education of self-management approaches for
individuals and clinics. The Evans
Health Lab’s Whiteboard Med School published Best Advice for People Taking
Opioid Medication on March 1, 2013 on YouTube. The video is only 11 minutes
in length and provides a wealth of information to those on, or about to start
taking opioid medications for the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain. The
video will be posted to the Oregon Pain Management Commission’s website as a
direct link but can also be found from here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Na2m7lx-hU
.

The American Chronic
Pain Association has declared the month of September as Pain Awareness Month.
This is a time when various organizations work to raise public awareness of
pain and pain management issues. For ideas of how you can help promote Pain
Awareness Month see the ACPA website.